CVE-2024-45013

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

nvme: move stopping keep-alive into nvme_uninit_ctrl()

Commit 4733b65d82bd (nvme: start keep-alive after admin queue setup) moves starting keep-alive from nvme_start_ctrl() into nvme_init_ctrl_finish(), but dont move stopping keep-alive into nvme_uninit_ctrl(), so keep-alive work can be started and keep pending after failing to start controller, finally use-after-free is triggered if nvme host driver is unloaded.

This patch fixes kernel panic when running nvme/004 in case that connection failure is triggered, by moving stopping keep-alive into nvme_uninit_ctrl().

This way is reasonable because keep-alive is now started in nvme_init_ctrl_finish().

Weakness

Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code.

Affected Software

Extended Description

The use of previously-freed memory can have any number of adverse consequences, ranging from the corruption of valid data to the execution of arbitrary code, depending on the instantiation and timing of the flaw. The simplest way data corruption may occur involves the system’s reuse of the freed memory. Use-after-free errors have two common and sometimes overlapping causes:

In this scenario, the memory in question is allocated to another pointer validly at some point after it has been freed. The original pointer to the freed memory is used again and points to somewhere within the new allocation. As the data is changed, it corrupts the validly used memory; this induces undefined behavior in the process. If the newly allocated data happens to hold a class, in C++ for example, various function pointers may be scattered within the heap data. If one of these function pointers is overwritten with an address to valid shellcode, execution of arbitrary code can be achieved.

Potential Mitigations

References

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4101af98ab573554c4225e328d506fec2a74bc54
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a54a93d0e3599b05856971734e15418ac551a14c